Milestones

The last few months have been full of fun and exciting milestones. As time passed we slowly shared our good news with our nearest and dearest and finally reached the point we were ready to share the news with everyone we knew. In the meantime, I recorded thoughts about milestones we experienced in the first few months of Alison's pregnancy. 

December 16, 2023 - This was an exciting day. This was the day Alison and I discovered we were having a baby. Alison took the test and didn't even watch it. She set a timer and just did her thing. When she checked a few minutes later she was shocked. I was in the gym and she called me and told me she needed me to come upstairs. I headed upstairs wondering what could be the problem. I thought something was broken in the bathroom or there was a spider or some other insect she needed me to take care of. It didn't even cross my mind Alison was going to tell me she was pregnant. I could not have been happier. Alison was a little shell-shocked. It took a few hours for the news to really sink in. Alison kept the pregnancy test visible on the bathroom counter for the next few weeks to remind herself that this was really happening. 

December 27, 2023 - I made our first purchase for our baby. I bought a Yankees infant shirt!

January 16, 2024 - This was the day we had our first appointment. Alison used a midwife group through the University of Utah hospital system. Being first-time parents we didn't really know what to expect. The midwife we met with was great. She asked about a thousand questions and answered our list of questions too. The best part of the appointment was that she wheeled in a little ultrasound machine and gave us the first glimpse of our little baby. The midwife started with the disclaimer that she isn't proficient at ultrasounds - we would schedule a follow-up appointment with an ultrasound tech for a more formal first ultrasound. For this one, she just checked to see what she could see. This was our first glimpse of our little one and seeing the little heartbeat was magical. 

January 30, 2024 - This was the date of the ultrasound. This is the one where we really got to see the baby! It was quite exciting and it looked like a little baby. Everything looked good, which is the reassurance we hoped we would hear. 

February 13, 2024 - This was the date of the 2nd appointment. This one was much easier than the first one - fewer questions on both sides. The best part of this appointment was that we got to hear the baby's heartbeat. That was a magical moment. 

February 14, 2024 - Alison got me an awesome Valentine's Day gift celebrating the pregnancy!

February 21, 2024 - This is the day we found out the gender of our baby. We are having a girl! I was so excited. I really wanted to have a girl. Alison was hoping for a boy and was a little disappointed that her intuition was wrong - she practically had us both convinced we were having a boy. We were both thrilled. I worked at the office in Lehi this particular day so Alison called me to give me the news while I was driving to work. We immediately began planning how to reveal the gender to our family and friends. 

February 23, 2024 - This was another really great day. Today we were preparing for our gender reveal party. Skylee and Anna had a sleepover and helped us prepare. First, we had them help us decorate a poster board for everyone to make their guesses on and we had them each write down their own guess. Then it was time to tell the girls so they could help us with the rest of our preparations. We bought a confetti cannon which was a fun way to tell them we are having a girl! They were both so excited. After they knew it was time to get to work frosting cupcakes for our party. Alison came across the idea we used - decorating cupcakes with friendship bracelets. We bought edible markers, smarties, and sprinkles. It was all that was needed for some adorable swifties to create epic cupcakes for our celebration. 

February 24, 2024 - Today we had our gender reveal party. It was bigger than we were initially planning. We were going to buy some cookies and call it good, but then we decided to make cupcakes and before we knew it we had balloons, a banner, and lunch was served. It was enjoyable. We had quite a crowd. On Alison's side, we had her parents, her grandma, her sister, and our sister-in-law, and of course, Anna and Skylee were there. On my side we had my grandparents, my mom and Luke, and my brother and his fiance. It was a full house. We bought this house with hosting in mind, so it was great to be able to accommodate a large group. Once everyone arrived we went right to the main event and shared with everyone that we were having a baby girl!  Everyone was excited and congratulated us. My mom even gave us a beautiful handmade knit blanket (she had to wait for the reveal to know which blanket to give us). After the reveal, everyone stayed for lunch and we visited and played games. It was an exceptional day to share with our family. 

March 11, 2024 - Another month, another appointment with the midwives. This one was largely uneventful. We didn't have any questions or concerns and they didn't have much to tell us. We did get to hear our little girl's heartbeat again - that was the highlight of the appointment. 

We also had a design meeting at our home with Elizabeth from Pottery Barn. She is helping us design our nursery. Our original plan was to use the Crate & Barrel design services because Crate & Barrel has a crib we love. However, the experience was so subpar we decided to enlist Elizabeth's help and forgo the Crate & Barrel crib. She helped us design a few of the other rooms in our home. She is so good. She listened to what we wanted/needed and gave insightful suggestions. My vision for the nursery is a safari theme. Alison was more on board with that idea when she thought we might be having a boy, when she found out we were having a girl she wasn't so sure anymore. Elizabeth took all of our ideas and promised to come up with something great. 

March 15, 2024 - Today we visited Disneyland. The sole purpose of this trip was to take pregnancy announcement photos. Over the past 13 years, we have taken dozens of trips to Disneyland and many times we dreamed of having a Disneyland pregnancy announcement. One of the first things I asked Alison when she told me she was pregnant was, "When are we going to Disneyland?"

March 28, 2024 - Today we visited Elizabet at the Trolley Square Pottery Barn location to review her vision for the nursery. She nailed it. She kept with the safari theme, while also incorporating a color pallet Alison loved - think some nice pastel pink and greens. There is a light feminine element to the design. It will be a lovely nursery. We immediately fell in love and placed an order. It is going to take a few months for everything to arrive so that we can fully put the nursery together. 

April 9, 2024 - This week marks 20 weeks into Alison's pregnancy. Our little baby girl is half-baked. To celebrate we shared a pint of Ben and Jerry's half-baked ice cream. Today we had the 20-week ultrasound. This is the body scan where they check to make sure everything they can see looks good. Our baby girl is healthy. She has her fingers and toes and her heart and brain look good. We were thrilled. While we know the most likely outcome is a healthy baby it is easy to worry. Seeing her looking healthy relieved many of those worries. We can't wait to meet her.